266 THE { SOLAR ECLIPSE OF JULY 29, 1878. 



Mr. Penrose, of London, England, was at Denver. He observed the land- 

 scape while the shadow was sweeping over it. He makes the time of totality two 

 minutes forty-six seconds, but this probably included the duration of Bailey's 

 beads, two and a half seconds, before totality, and the light, one and one-half 

 seconds after, as seen by a Chicago Society party. Sergt. Barwick, of the Den- 

 ver Signal Service, observed the sun. The thermometer fell from 114 to 82 dur- 

 ing totality. 



At Central City the observations were a decided success. The duration of 

 totality was two minutes and fifty seconds. Prof. Young's party was fairly suc- 

 cessful in observing the corona, and looking for Vulcan without finding him. 

 They discovered no new lines in either the ultra red or the ultra violet. At the 

 moment of totality all the Fraunhofer lines were seen brilliantly reversed, burst- 

 ing out like rockets. Lines were seen near B, confirming Pogson's observations. 

 They did not reduce the times of contact. One student saw a continuous spec- 

 trum with the interating spectroscope, and the line 1,474 was seen at the begin- 

 ning and end of totality, but faded in the middle of the phase. 



Mr. Raynard, of England, with Young, took two good photographs, but his 

 driving clock got out of order. 



Maria Mitchell's party saw the corona much more brilliant than in 1869, but 

 the rosy flames were poorly marked. Saw Venus, Mars, Mercury and four stars, 

 but no Vulcan. They made an oil painting of the corona. 



Father Sistini, with a party from Maryland, saw the corona extend one and 

 a half times the moon's diameter, and elsewhere half the same, making it the 

 greatest measure seen. 



Stone, of Cincinnati, near Denver, observed the contacts and measured the 

 cusps. 



The duration at Kit Carson was three seconds. It was not quite total at 

 Greeley. 



Prof. Louder, of England, saw at Denver, about one minute after totality be- 

 gan, a bright object like a star at a distance of twenty minutes of arc from the 

 sun, and forty degrees from the north toward the east. It was visible till the 

 total phase ended. 



Swift, of Rochester, with the Chicago party, saw directly east of the sun two 

 reddish stars, about three degrees from the sun and two minutes apart. 



Do these observations show the existence of Vulcan ? After all, Young and 

 some other astronomers are more grounded in the belief that there is no Vulcan. 

 This is the first time in eclipse history of stars seen and not known, and yet some 

 doubt it is certain that the perturbations of Mercury can be accounted for by ref- 

 erence to cosmic matter which is inside the orbit of Mercury only at perihelion, 

 and Prof. Hill, of Washington, has detected perturbations of the earth and Venus 

 which accord with this view. 



Profs. Eaton and White, of Brooklyn, located at Idaho Springs, report see- 

 ing Bailey's Beads, but no red prominences. The duration of totality was two 

 minutes, forty-eight seconds. 



